FURY: Canton, OH council president lashes out at cop critics

Canton, OH City Council President Allen Schulman last night reportedly blasted gun rights activists and critics of a city police officer caught on his own dash-cam video threatening a legally-armed citizen in an obscenity-laced tirade that has gone viral across cyberspace.

Schulman’s remarks — aimed at “out of town” gun activists and others who have criticized the incident from as far away as Washington and Oregon — came during a Monday night council session. In a tirade of his own, Schulman, who supports “reasonable gun control laws,’ had this to say:

“I take very strong exception ... to out-of-towners making (derogatory) comments about our city,” he added at Monday’s meeting.—CantonRep.com

Schulman’s remarks brought a blistering reaction from Philip Mulivor with Ohioans for Concealed Carry (OFCC), the group that released the dash cam video last week. In his response, Mulivor wrote:

Schulman, you're lucky that there isn't civil unrest on your very doorstep. While neither I nor OFCC advocate that approach, I'm surprised that it hasn't happened. Whatever develops from this point forward, one thing is certain: Your public relations hellstorm hasn't even begun to kick up sparks.—Philip Mulivor, Ohioans for Concealed Carry

The 17-minute video has been the subject of hot discussion, virtually all of it negative, on several popular forums in the Pacific Northwest including WaGuns.org, Northwest Firearms and Hunting-Washington. It is also getting plenty of attention on GunRightsMedia.com and TheHighRoad.org.

The incident has been discussed by this column here and here, garnering some of the heaviest reader response in recent memory.

There were some nasty e-mail messages sent to the city, according to the on-line newspaper, which reported Tuesday:

An email referred to Harless as a “stormtrooper of death molesting the Concealed Carry citizen. When you pigz are kidnapped off the street by citizen tactical teams and getting their throats slit on youtube, then will you admit, finally, that you have a problem in Canton? What will it take?”  Another email said that “you had best fire that maggot, out of control, scumbag cop of yours. ... This is your only warning.”—CantonRep.com

Schulman was reportedly “visibly angry” about some of the messages, and he complained they were sent by “people who do not live in this community, who do not know our police…(and) who know nothing about the city of Canton.”

However, those same citizens got an eyeful from the video, convincing many of them that Canton is n ot friendly to gun owners. Schulman did not make matters any better, according to the CantonRep report:

Ohio gun laws allow people to carry weapons “in the worst of circumstances,” he said.  “... There are deaths waiting to happen,” Schulman said, referring to both police officers and citizens.  Schulman said he does not oppose handguns and weapons, including for those who hunt, but he supports “reasonable gun control laws.”—CantonRep.com

Police Chief Dean McKimm has promised a complete internal affairs investigation. The officer, Daniel Harless, is on administrative leave and sick leave. The armed citizen, William Bartlett, may pursue legal action against the city.

Meanwhile, the King County Sheriff’s office, which circulated the video to all of its employees last Friday, advised this column Tuesday that the result has been very positive discussion.

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